Burger King
Burger King (nicknamed "BK") is the second-largest fast food chain, besides McDonald's. It was founded in 1951 by Keith J. Kramer in Jacksonville, FL. It sells popular food items such as Whoppers and the Big King Sandwich. Like McDonald's, it has been controversial and blamed for childhood obesity and animal abuse. Its mascot is The Burger King, a smiling king who usually holds a Whopper in his hand. History In 1951, the business started in Jacksonville, Florida as "Insta-Burger King". The idea to start Burger King was actually inspired by a trip to the very first McDonald's. In 1955, the business ran into financial issues and new owners James McLamore and David Edgarton re-named the company "Burger King", cutting off the "Insta". In 1967, the Pillsbury Company bought BK and throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Pillsbury tried to redesign it (they even got the CEO of McDonald's at the time to help). In the 1980s, there was a fierce rivalry with McDonald's and Burger King. A series of commercials were made in a rivalry format called Burger Wars. In the 1990s, BK settled down and McDonald's had much more progress than they did. However, in the 2000s BK regained popularity with the BK Kids Club and several other kid-targeted areas like a similar playground that McDonald's has. Advertising and Layout Since its foundation in 1954, Burger King has employed varied advertising programs, both successful and unsuccessful. During the 1970s, output included its Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce... jingle, the inspiration for its current mascot the Burger King, and several well known and parodied slogans such as "Have it your way" and "It takes two hands to handle a Whopper". Burger King introduced the first attack ad in the fast food industry with a pre-teen Sarah Michelle Gellar in 1981. The television spot, which claimed BK burgers were larger and better tasting than competitor McDonald's, so enraged executives at McDonald's parent company that they sued all parties involved. Starting in the early 1980s and running through approximately 2001, BK engaged a series of ad agencies that produced many unsuccessful slogans and programs, including its biggest advertising flop "Where's Herb?". Burger King was a pioneer in the advertising practice known as "product tie-in", with a successful partnership with George Lucas' Lucasfilm, Ltd., to promote the 1977 film Star Wars in which BK sold a set of glasses featuring the main characters from the movie. This promotion was one of the first in the fast food industry and set the pattern that continues to the present. BK's early success in the field was overshadowed by a 1982 deal between McDonald's and the Walt Disney Company to promote Disney's animated films beginning in the mid 1980s and running through the early 1990s. In 1994, Disney switched from McDonald's to Burger King, signing a 10-movie promotional contract which would include such top 10 films as Aladdin (1992), Beauty and the Beast (1991), The Lion King (1994), and Toy Story (1995). A partnership in association with the Pokémon franchise at the height of its popularity in 1999 was tremendously successful for the company, with many locations rapidly selling out of the toys and the replacements. Shortly after the acquisition of Burger King by TPG Capital, L.P. in 2002, its new CEO Brad Blum set about turning around the fortunes of the company by initiating an overhaul of its flailing advertising programs. One of the first moves by the company was to reinstate its famous "Have it your way" slogan as the corporate motto. BK handed the effort off to its new advertising agency, Miami-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky (abbreviated as CP+B). CP+B was known for having a hip, subversive tack when creating campaigns for its clients, exactly what BK was looking for. One of CP+B strategies was to revive the Burger King character used during BK's 1970s/1980s Burger King Kingdom children's advertising campaign as a caricatured variation, now simply called "the King". One of the successful promotions that CP+B devised was the creation of a series of three advergames for the Xbox 360. Created by UK based Blitz Games and featuring company celebrity spokesman Brooke Burke, the games sold more than 3.2 million copies, placing them as one of the top selling games along with another Xbox 360 hit, Gears of War. These ad campaigns, coupled with other new promotions and a series of new product introductions, drew positive and negative attention to BK, and helped TPG and its partners realize about $367 million (USD) in dividends. Slogan Category:Restaurants Category:Best Known Restaurants Category:Burger King Category:Werewolves Category:Charisma carpenter Category:Jennifer love hewitt Category:Frank welker Category:Kevin Category:Home alone Category:Justin bunnell Category:Ducktales Category:Sarah michelle gellar Category:Lady bug Category:Tenchi muyo Category:Mediamass Category:Justin